Uganda: Mama Kevina Comprehensive Secondary School Project

Students Perform Very Well on Senior Exams: Q1 2019

May 08, 2019

Naku Charles Lwanga

Summary of Activities
  • Purchased instructional materials, including chalk, pens, manila charts, and more. These are essential for the smooth running of the school, and enabled the students to stay on track with the syllabi and prepare for national exams organized by the Ministry of Education.
  • Teaching and learning continued throughout the reporting period without interruption. Teachers attended to the students as expected, continuous assessment was carried out to ensure that students did not fall behind, and exams were conducted at the established intervals.
  • Paid teachers’ salaries and support staff’s wages promptly, which is one of the reasons World Children’s Fund Mama Kevina Secondary School has been able to maintain highly motivated teachers and staff.
  • Paid the school’s utility bills, mainly electricity.
  • All subjects, as outlined by the Ministry of Education, are being taught. These include mathematics, physics, agriculture, chemistry, English language and literature, geography, history, commerce, accounting, information technology, Christian religious education, and fine arts. The school employs teachers for all these subjects, making their expertise available to students.
  • Children who were ill during the reporting period received prompt medical treatment. This was possible because of the standby medical staff at World Children’s Fund Mama Kevina Secondary School.
  • The children are growing, and most are entering the adolescent stage. With the help of senior teachers, students are given formative talks to help them cope with the challenges of adolescence.
  • The in-kind donation of toothbrushes not only benefitted World Children’s Fund Mama Kevina Secondary School financially, as this eased the burden of continually providing hygiene products for orphans who arrive at school without these essential supplies, but also assisted in improving the hygiene and health of our students. We were able to educate every class on how to use a toothbrush and provide the students with a toothbrush—an item that orphans or those from underprivileged families had seen as an unnecessary luxury.
  • World Children’s Fund Mama Kevina Secondary School successfully attended the setters’ workshop, a capacity building activity for our teachers and other teachers in the district to ensure that students are faced with fair, objective examinations to prepare them for their final exams at the end of the four years.
  • In the first term of the academic year, new students join the school; therefore, the head teacher and the academic team evaluated applications and selected the new senior one students. The new students reported to school on February 10, 2019 to commence their secondary school journey.
  • Term 1 successfully commenced: students were received, academic departments were supplied with necessary teaching materials, and the dormitory department ensured that students arrived to a clean and healthy environment, thanks to the fumigation and cleaning of dormitories.
  • On February 11th, we embarked on the registration of senior four candidates, one of the requirements to sit for their final examinations in the third term. The students are registered early with the Uganda National Examinations Board to ensure that the process runs smoothly.
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Results &

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Regional Sports Tournament

School Teams Perform Well

World Children’s Fund Mama Kevina Secondary School participated in the regional COPA Coca-Cola sports tournament. We sent five teams to the tournament to participate in soccer, volleyball, and netball games. The girls’ teams performed well, competing until the semifinals, and the boys’ soccer team competed until the finals.

Three Meals a Day

Children’s Health Improved

Sufficient food was purchased throughout the reporting period, and students were served nutritious meals. Children continued to be well fed during the reporting period, receiving 3 meals a day. This has improved students’ health and capacity for learning/concentration, and there were no cases of malnutrition.

Fellow Teachers Pay Visit

Sharing Good Practices

A group of teachers from Rubongi Army Secondary School conducted a courtesy visit to World Children’s Fund Mama Kevina Secondary School in order to share good practices about how the schools are run, following our success in the district. With RMF/WCF support, Mama Kevina has become a model school in the region; other educators come to World Children’s Fund Mama Kevina Secondary School to increase their knowledge of education management.

Senior Exam Results

Reducing Illiteracy Levels

Thanks to the newly constructed semi-permanent exam hall, we were able to accommodate the high number of candidates undertaking their final examinations at the school during the previous quarter and meet the required Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) standards.

During this term, the Uganda National Examinations Board released the senior four results from the 2018 national exams. Our students performed very well. RMF/WCF contributes in many ways to our work reducing illiteracy levels in the district and country as a whole.

Student Elections

February 17, 2019

We held student elections on the school premises, and a new school cabinet was elected. Support was given so the school club activities could be carried out, such as the YCS (Young Christian Students) Fellowship, and the election of a new club cabinet was effected in the presence of their patron, the school chaplain. Some of the student leaders addressed the student community after swearing in, pledging to serve to the best of their ability.

School Gatherings

Activities and Celebrations

Funds were provided to assist in running the day-to-day activities of the school, such as school gatherings, functions, and any other activities crucial to the students’ education.

The school also celebrated various international, national, and church holidays. Some of these included International Women’s Day and Ash Wednesday, and we also conducted a visiting day for students. February 16th, St. Janani Luwum Day, is a public holiday celebrated at the school. Although academic activities were suspended, we utilized this holiday to screen aspiring student leaders.

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Background

& Objectives

Background

Mama Kevina Comprehensive Secondary School was opened in 2006 with international financial support, and with the goal of providing both secondary education and vocational training. The student population is mostly from Northern Uganda where many children have been affected by ongoing wars, floods and HIV/AIDS. Many of the students’ parents were killed by rebels or AIDS which left many of the children as orphans; some boys had been forced to be child soldiers. Enrolled at the school are students ranging in age from 11 to 24, who attend secondary grades 1 to secondary 4.

Objectives

Support World Children’s Fund Mama Kevina School with the following:

• Food supply for the students and staffs
• Support of the school garden work: planting of the maize, and now they are weeding
• Anti-malarial medication and mosquito net supplies for the students and staff
• Support the school clinic with other medications
• Payment of staff salaries
• Support computer purchases to teach IT skills
• Purchase of text books and other school teaching supplies
• Purchase of office equipment supplies like photocopier, printer, and office furniture
• Facilitate participating in community outreach and inter-house competitions with music, dance, drama, regional games and sports held in partnership with the Tororo District
• Support of infrastructure/constructions projects on campus

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More

Photos

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Numbers

Served

Direct Beneficiaries

January-March 2018

413 Students
45 Staff Members

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Success

Stories

Supporting Children’s Health

Direct Relief Toothbrush Donation

In the first quarter of 2019, RMF received a consignment of toothbrushes for Mama Kevina Comprehensive Secondary School from Direct Relief. The toothbrushes arrived through the Mombasa seaport in Kenya and were transported to the school premises in Tororo, Uganda. They were received by RMF Uganda Country Director Naku Charles Lwanga and handed over to the school administration for distribution among the students. These supplies were crucial in our efforts to provide personal hygiene materials to support students’ health.

WCF Mama Kevina Comprehensive Secondary School is a boarding school, and therefore the students are required to have such materials. However, orphans and students from underprivileged families often arrive without personal hygiene products, and it can be challenging for the school to continually provide these to the students. The school administration was pleased with this gesture, and they continue to be grateful to RMF and our donors, Direct Relief and World Children’s Fund, for our tireless efforts to support the school. We are proud to empower the neediest children in the region through a quality education that was only a dream to many of them, as well as supporting the children’s health with essential supplies such as toothbrushes.

In conclusion, the assistance rendered to RMF Uganda is very relevant, and our team is pleased with the support we have been able to provide to beneficiaries of our different programs, including students at the World Children’s Fund Mama Kevina Comprehensive Secondary School. RMF continues to pursue our goal of Liberating Human Potential and identifying relevant beneficiaries.